


Festive Felons and Candy Canes

by Toxin



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Children, Christmas, Costumes, Delinquent Cora, F/F, First Kiss, First Meetings, Genius Lydia, Mall Santa - Freeform, Mistletoe, Opposites Attract, Santa's Elves, Sassy Cora, pre coffee shop fic, which are unflattering but adorable in my mind, which could eventually be continued, written for the Teen Wolf Femslash Secret Santa exchange
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-14
Updated: 2016-01-14
Packaged: 2018-05-13 23:30:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5721094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Toxin/pseuds/Toxin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As if first meetings aren't awkward enough, someone somewhere decided that theirs should involve ridiculous tights, jingling bells and a touch of community service induced humiliation. Not that it seemed to deter Cora at all. </p><p> </p><p>A short Christmassy one-shot for the Teen Wolf Femslash Secret Santa.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Festive Felons and Candy Canes

**Author's Note:**

> This is a short one-shot for the Teen Wolf Femslash Secret Santa. Merry belated Christmas to all and enjoy!!!

“But I wasn’t done telling him what I want!”

“Well, I think he has more than enough ideas with the ten minute brainstorming you just did for him.” Cora growled between clenched teeth and a smile that no one with decent eyesight would qualify as anything other than fake. It was the same expression people wore when they were forced to watch a child mess up some form of art and tell them they did good.

Only, these people actually tried to hide their disdain. Lydia couldn’t even say that much about Cora at this point.

The dark haired girl swiftly dug her hands under the little brat’s arms and lifted him up as though he weighed nothing at all. The little bells on her shoes shook excitedly with every grumpy step she took towards the ridiculously long line of impatient kids and irritated parents, and Lydia couldn’t stop the chuckle that left her lips. Cora somehow heard it though, and the dark look she threw over her shoulder made Lydia laugh harder.

She couldn’t decide if it was the elf ears or the drawn-on red circles on the girl’s cheek that made her angry expression funny, but she wasn’t about to question her luck.

“BUT I WASN’T DONE!” The little boy wailed in Cora’s arms and tried to wiggle free.

Even though Lydia barely knew Cora, having only met her earlier when the mall’s representative had made the introductions as he’d handed them out the costumes, Lydia still let herself step closer to help.

“He’s magic, okay? He’ll hear the rest of what you want in his sleep.” Cora tried again, gritting her teeth and holding him tighter as she approached the little garden fence around Santa’s pen.

“I WANT TO TALK TO SANTA!!!” The kid screamed. Of course, parents who’d been muttering moments ago about how long it was taking for their kids to have a turn now looked at Cora like she was being overly cruel, only stopping to look at each other and whisper under their breaths. Not that it was surprising really. What more can you expect from a bunch of suburban moms and their spawn other than some good old gossip and hypocrisy?

“Listen you little crib scourge, it’s not even the real―” Lydia quickly slapped a hand over Cora’s mouth and grinned at the boy.

“If I give you a candy cane and tell Santa you deserve more gifts than the other kids, will that make it better?” Lydia asked sweetly.

The boy looked between them suspiciously, seemingly trying to decide if immediate gratification was better then what he had originally wanted. Probably realizing that he wasn’t going to get his way either way, he nodded at Lydia and stuck out his hand.

She made a point of not raising an eyebrow at the kid’s manners.

Still, it didn’t stop her from smiling smugly at Cora as they watched the next kid sit on Santa’s lap.

“Oh shove it,” Cora snapped under her breath. “I had it under control.”

Lydia hummed in response as she picked at a speck that may or may not have been on her green and red stripped tights.

“Did you now? Was that before or after you decided insulting the kid was a good idea?”

“He’s like five. There’s no way he knows what that meant.” Cora huffed.

“No, but his mom looks like she does.” When Cora glanced at her, Lydia nudged her chin in the direction of the food court where a scowling woman was crouching in front of the travel-size headache that had asked for a laptop for Christmas, amongst a hundred other things. The glare she shot in their direction was almost as cold as Cora’s.

Almost.

Cora huffed and rolled her eyes, crossing her arms and staring the woman down. It looked adorable with the little green apron they were forced to wear.

Or it would, if Lydia didn’t find Cora ridiculous.

“Why are you even here if you don’t like kids?” Cora snorted at question and looked at Lydia critically.

“Why are you?” She countered, looking like she couldn’t wait to hear whatever answer Lydia could possibly have to that.

“The program I’m trying to get in is highly competitive, so I want to work on a field research as a student assistant to be able to add it to my resume.” Lydia flicked her hair back and plowed on, choosing to ignore Cora’s incredulous look. “The problem is that the study itself encompasses a fairly broad range of human subjects, and they’ll only consider me if I have experience with children. Hence I’m volunteering, because volunteering always looks good on paper. Obviously.” Cora whistled lowly.

“And what? You never babysat?” She asked. Lydia looked Cora up and down, from the tip of her too big felt hat to the even bigger slippers before looking her square in the eye.

“What, have you?” Lydia smirked. Cora smirked right back at her, only in a much more sarcastic manner.

“I’ll have you know that I come from a big family. I have a lot of younger relatives.”

“You could’ve fooled me.”

Lydia didn’t like being wrong of course, because who did, but she wasn’t planning on letting Cora see her falter. Instead she pointedly looked back at the kid from early before turning back to Cora, whose face was back to its typical frown.

“Are you serious though? I can’t imagine anyone doing this job willingly, let alone for free.”

“Then why are you here?” Lydia asked again, affronted. What right did Cora have to judge her anyway? She was standing right next to Lydia during the mall’s rush hour, after all. With fake elf ears and all too many pompoms on both their outfits, at that. Her answer had better be good.

And it was. The words “community service” did not disappoint.

“And they let you near kids?” It was Lydia’s turn to be incredulous, and she tried to ignore the way something in her stomach fluttered when she spotted traces of pink spreading over the other girl’s cheekbones and neck.

“Calm down. I’m not a murderer jeez. And my probation officer thought it was funny, so here I am.”

“Okay. Wow. Why not? Let the felon handle the kids.” Cora scowled harder.

“Jesus, relax will you? I played a prank on my uncle and the asshole decided calling the cops was a good way to get back at me. I’ll get pardoned anyway when I turn eighteen, so what’s the big deal?”

A lot, actually. Lydia could think of a dozen cases where having a criminal case would be problem, even if it wasn’t a permanent one. She kept it to herself though when she realized suddenly that Cora had slipped closer so that the parents wouldn’t overhear, and that she was now only a few inches to her right.

Their shoulders were touching. How had she missed that?

Cora seemed to know what Lydia was thinking though, because she went from looking frustrated, to confused, before finally settling into a cocky smile. Before Lydia could help herself, her eyes fell to the girl’s lips.

“You know, the coffee shop stays open for an hour after the stores close so that the mall’s employees can come by.” Cora said casually, her smile broadening.

Lydia was a lot of things, but dense wasn’t one of them. While she got the invitation loud and clear, though, giving up control in any situation wasn’t one of her virtues either.

“And why should I care?” Lydia raised an eyebrow. Cora shrugged back, unworried.

“Show up or don’t.” Cora grinned and left it at that.

By the time all the children from this county and the next had had a turn one Santa’s knees, Lydia couldn’t be happier to be out of the costume. She still didn’t know what she was going to do now, though. Go home? Go to the coffee shop?

Cora had walked over to the gate to greet the children soon after their talk and had made a point of not looking at Lydia, so Lydia had had no idea what the girl had been thinking.

Only she wasn’t ignoring her anymore, apparently. Lydia looked down at the hand on her wrist before looking back at Cora, whose grip had stopped her from leaving the storage room in which they kept the costumes.

“What.” Lydia asked, unimpressed. Cora only pointed upwards.

Dragging her eyes to the ceiling, she saw a little posy of decorative mistletoe hanging on the doorway and squinted. She would have bet a lot of money that that hadn’t been there earlier that day.

Cora let go of Lydia’s arm and raised both hands in surrender, waiting for Lydia to make the first move. With a huff, not one to back down from a challenge (and boy was the glint in Cora’s eyes a challenge), Lydia stepped forward and pressed her lips to Cora’s.

Strong hands came around her waist and pulled her closer, until she could feel every one of Cora’s breaths in her mouth and from where they were pressing together at their fronts. Lydia, not to be outdone, let her teeth graze Cora’s bottom lip before tugging on it, earning her a growl.

It wasn’t until moments later when the kiss had escalated way passed what was probably appropriate that Cora stepped back. Lydia watched her move, back straight and chin high even though she couldn’t stop herself from chasing the feeling of the girl’s lips by licking her own.

Cora followed the movement with her eyes before tracing it with her thumb.

“I’ll see you at the coffee shop.” It wasn’t a question.

Then, with a last look and a grin that was a pinch too proud, she turned and walked out the door, whistling some cheesy Christmas tune loudly enough for Lydia to hear.

Lydia rolled her eyes, but she was grinning too.

**Author's Note:**

> If you wanna, come and say hi on tumblr ( ghost-of-erica-reyes )!!!


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